Year 11 - English
'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's agency in Act 5, Scene 3
Romeo and Juliet: Juliet and female agency
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils explore the presentation of Juliet's agency in 'Romeo and Juliet'. After recapping Juliet's character and conceptualising agency, they look at five scenes through the prism of Juliet's agency. At the end, they learn how to use tentative language to write about female agency.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain Juliet's agency in Act 5, Scene 3 of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Key Notes
- Potentially, we might see Friar Lawrence's offer of a nunnery as representing how limited women's choices were.
- Arguably, Juliet asking permission to die undermines her agency in the scene.
- We might see Juliet's death as fulfilling her destiny which could contradict her agency.
- Arguably, Juliet's posthumous presentation is decided by men.
- This might reveal how ultimately women's agency is undermined by men.
Vocabulary To Learn
- agency: the capacity of an individual to act independently from others and to make their own free choices
- fate: the development of events outside a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power
- posthumous: happening or continuing after one's death
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- That everyone believes we all have control over our life and decisions.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Potentially, we might see Friar Lawrence's offer of a nunnery as representing how limited women's choices were. Arguably, Juliet asking permission to die undermines her agency in the scene.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'agency'
the capacity of an individual to act independently from others and to make their own free choices.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: That everyone believes we all have control over our life and decisions. Correction: If you believe in fate, then you believe that our life is predetermined and our decisions ultimately don't matter.
More Lessons In This Unit
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring ideas of sex and forgiveness in Act 3, Scene 2 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's agency in Act 4, Scene 1 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's agency in Act 4, Scene 3 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's character and conceptualising agency Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': Juliet's agency in Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 2, Scene 2 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': using tentative language to write about writer's intentions Study Guide
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